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A class blog for J349T Writing for Online Publication, in the School of Journalism at UT-AustinFri, 27 Feb 2015 02:14:06 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/Comment on Citizen journalism by Site Rankhttps://writingforonline.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/citizen-journalism-2/#comment-2181
Fri, 27 Feb 2015 02:14:06 +0000http://writingforonline.wordpress.com/?p=686#comment-2181Site Rank

]]>Comment on Explanatory Journalism by Content strategy: Part 1 — Why? | Mosaic Bloghttps://writingforonline.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/explanatory-journalism/#comment-980
Wed, 09 Oct 2013 13:19:58 +0000http://writingforonline.wordpress.com/?p=116#comment-980[…] journalism is bigger than ever. Explanatory journalism makes news easier to understand, and as one blogger wrote, the web facilitates this by “not only going deep and plumbing the depths of a topic, but […]
]]>Comment on The need for context and explanation by How it’s Made: Ballot initiative petition process « Measure Up Missourihttps://writingforonline.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/context-and-explanatory-journalism/#comment-978
Sat, 06 Oct 2012 04:41:56 +0000http://writingforonline.wordpress.com/?p=690#comment-978[…] knows that important parts of a story, or anything relayed to the public, need to be put into context. So, while we can, and will, talk more about each initiative, we thought it would be beneficial to […]
]]>Comment on Explanatory Journalism by Tweets that mention Explanatory Journalism « The Future of Journalism -- Topsy.comhttps://writingforonline.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/explanatory-journalism/#comment-977
Tue, 11 Jan 2011 10:38:31 +0000http://writingforonline.wordpress.com/?p=116#comment-977[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Guillaume Faure. Guillaume Faure said: Joel Maybury, consul US à l'IJBA parle d'explanatory journalism. Une composante disparue dans la presse ? http://bit.ly/fmvc2g (2008, déjà) […]
]]>Comment on The need for context and explanation by Yolande Yiphttps://writingforonline.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/context-and-explanatory-journalism/#comment-976
Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:33:26 +0000http://writingforonline.wordpress.com/?p=690#comment-976I personally believe explanatory journalism to be essential. Like Jordyn, when I first started reading the news (and even today), I found it difficult to fully understand why certain issues were occurring, why things were important, etc.

I just went to a meeting for the Austin Music Commission, and without pre-existing knowledge of the issues they discussed, I had a very hard time following the meeting. It’s the same for readers when they read an “episodic” news story.

There definitely needs to be more contextual information provided in news stories, and features like “The Giant Pool of Money” are invaluable, but how do we promote this work-intensive type of journalism?

While reading, a few obstacles to explanatory journalism occurred to me.

First, the biggest obstacle seems to be that there isn’t a truly acknowledged need for explanatory journalism. As Elise Hu recapped in her post, many journalists view providing context as extraneous, unnecessary work. This mentality needs to change.

Second, we need to evaluate which mediums work best for this in-depth journalism. As Patty noted, not all mediums are suitable. Even in a newspaper, there are space limitations.

This reminds me of something John Ross, the independent journalist and author of “Murdered by Capitalism,” said when he came to speak at UT. After 5 decades of reporting in Latin America, Ross said he had gathered a rich background in the area’s history and he would try to put his stories in this historical context, but they would end up much too long, and no editor would publish them. But without the bigger picture, no reader could truly understand the issue, he said.

So even if journalists recognize the need for explanatory journalism and take the initiative to do it, it’s possible they’ll be met with limitations both with the medium in which they are working and with their editor.

]]>Comment on The need for context and explanation by Katie Myunghttps://writingforonline.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/context-and-explanatory-journalism/#comment-975
Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:11:04 +0000http://writingforonline.wordpress.com/?p=690#comment-975When I wrote the news article about economy it was hard for me to understand all of the terms that I had to use. I had to research all the terms and situations and had to understand for writing the article. It made me frustrating but it was my duty for readers easier to understand.

I agree with Jay Rosen’s argument that “In the normal hierarchy of journalistic achievement the most “basic” acts are reporting today’s news and providing other current information as with prices, weather reports and scores. We think of ‘analysis,’ ‘interpretation,’ and also ‘explanation’ as higher order acts. They come after the news has been reported, building upon a base of factual information laid down by prior accounts.” He makes a good point of the necessity of explanation.

I think that explanation should be appeared and that makes readers informed properly. Throughout my experience, whenever I read an unfamiliar content from news articles then I search that content via online and finally can get tons of information about it. If plenty of information would be provided it was easier to understand when I read the article at the first time.

However, as Rosen says just a few organizations would be in charge of developing background stories because they have lots of things to do in very little time for very little money. It would be obviously hard work for journalists but it would be worth. And I guess journalists who live in digitized era can be easier to research and get information than past journalists because they can access the internet and find out great sources from tons of websites.